Our Robot Butterflies have taken flight in the media for O2 Recycle, made, as they are, from old mobile phones

If you didn’t know already, O2 will offer people money for their old phones. Which is a financially GOOD thing. But could also have a profound impact on the environment – there are millions sent to landfill every single year.

The issue is that, while it may be important, mobile phone recycling is not actually terribly interesting or exciting, something we tried to change last year with then successes of the Walkie Talkies, The bags That Talk and our Bluetooth Gloves.

And so the task this year?…to do something as creative, as engaging and of course activity that will get coverage and people talking. No mean feat.

So we worked with the genius guys at isthisgood? (designers, coders, creative minds) and over the course of seven months, created FOUR digital butterflies..all from hundreds of old and recycled mobile phones that would have otherwise been thrown away.

Not only did the Butterflies come to life every time a person called or texted one of them, but each interaction (from the way they moved their wings to the patterns formed on the wings to how the eyes would light up) is entirely unique for every person. Pretty awesome (even if we say so ourselves).

As you probably can tell, we are so excited about this project and fortunately lots of different media have felt the same. From the likes of The Times and Daily Star, to ITV, MSN and AOL, through to tech giants CNet and many many more, there has been a genuine interest in the story and the recycling messaging that goes hand in hand.

Oh, and we nearly forgot, Sky News and an upcoming BBC piece are putting the cherry on the top of the Butterflies (so to speak).

With 120 pieces of coverage so far, we are still hoping to beat the global phenomenon that was the Walkie Talkies last year …